DATE=3/17/2002

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-287664

TITLE=PAK / ATTACK (S-UPD)

BYLINE=AYAZ GUL

DATELINE=ISLAMABAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: At least five people have been killed, including two Americans, and more than 40-wounded in a grenade attack on a church in the Pakistani capital. Ayaz Gul reports from Islamabad.

TEXT: A government statement says that an unknown man threw several grenades inside a Protestant church during the Sunday sermon. There were about 70-worshipers at the time of the attack.

An American woman and her daughter are among the dead. Officials say seven-people are seriously wounded. The church is located in a heavily guarded diplomatic compound, close to the U-S embassy.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

An Interior Ministry official, Tasneem Noorani, says it is unclear what happened to the attacker.

/// NOORANI ACT ///

It is possible that he could be amongst the injured or in the dead. That is being investigated. And it is also possible that he may have escaped.

/// END ACT ///

President Pervez Musharraf has condemned the attack as a "terrorist act".

Pakistan has suffered a surge in religious violence between militants from majority Sunni and minority Shiite sects of Islam. But attacks on Christians

are relatively rare. (SIGNED)

NEB/AG/RAE